


Change of Heart

by LtTanyaBoone



Category: Bomb Girls
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-03 10:17:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/697185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtTanyaBoone/pseuds/LtTanyaBoone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The reality of war causes Betty to change her mind about certain things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change of Heart

**Disclaimers:** Bomb Girls, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.  
 **Spoilers:** up to and including 2x06 "Where There's Smoke"  
 **Pairing:** Betty McRae/Teresa

 **Warnings:** canon character death

* * *

Betty crossed her arms tightly in front of herself, watching Teresa talk to Mr Akins. She wasn’t actually working today, Blue Shift had the day off for a change, and even if they hadn’t, Betty was sure she wouldn’t have gone in. There was something about hearing someone break down in anguished wails and then finding your friend being held by Mrs Corbett in the common room that sort of put things into perspective.

She hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Teresa again after that had happened. Betty had been too busy trying to comfort Gladys and ignoring how angry she was at Kate in that moment, that she hadn’t even seen her leave. It was just when she returned to her room to get Gladys to bed (there was not a chance in hell that she would let her leave her by herself in that state) that she noticed Teresa had gotten dressed and snuck out.

And now she was watching her say her goodbyes to the men. Betty took a slow breath, wondering what she was going to say. She remembered what she had said the night before. That she hadn’t been looking for anything, that she’d probably not had sex with her if she had known she’d see the Army soldier again. But that had been before. Before the telegram and Gladys crying and then actually screaming as if someone had physically hurt her. That was before the reality of this war had hit them again, and this time seemed even worse than when it had happened to Edith’s husband.

Betty had never met him. She’d heard Edith talk about him, and she knew the other woman loved the man, but when the news had come, Betty had felt strangely numb and then relieved, because the men hadn’t come to deliver the news to her. She was the oldest of her parents’ children, but every day she dreaded the news that one of her brothers might’ve joined up, or a cousin might have fallen. But James Dunn, his death was different. It felt closer to home. Maybe because she’d seen the immediate aftermath of it, been the one to comfort Gladys when Mrs Corbett had to leave. Or maybe because she had known the man, and while Betty wasn’t necessarily his biggest fan (who on earth could be stupid enough to have Gladys Witham as his fiancée and then sleep with another girl?), she’d been around Gladys long enough to know how much the other woman loved the guy. Gladys had loved him, there was no doubt about that, because if she hadn’t, she would not have been upset about him sleeping around, or she would have left him for it.

But now James was dead, another dead soldier, killed by a German bomb not unlike those they were building every day. She shuddered to think what being at the factory might do to Gladys right now. It was a good thing Kate had been able to pry herself away from Ivan long enough to take over as babysitter. Not that Gladys needed much of that. When Betty had left, she’d been lying in her bed and staring at the wall, same as the three hours before.

The thing was, ever since getting the news, Betty hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Teresa. And what might happen to her, if she ever got deployed. If she would see battle. There was a chance that Betty might never see her again, and as much as she thought she had wanted that, had wanted just one night of anonymous sex without any strings attached, she suddenly found that that… wasn’t actually what she needed. She needed to know that Teresa was safe, she needed to know that she was not going to get hurt, and more than that, she needed to be able to touch her again, touch her the way she had when they had been alone in her room.

Her head was still spinning with the events of that night, and her hands were trembling when Teresa spotted her and slowly came over, her uniform meticulous. Betty remembered the feeling of the fabric under her fingers, the sound the jacket had made when it fell to the floor as she pushed it of the brunette’s shoulders.

“I thought you had the day off.” Teresa began and Betty nodded, taking a slow breath.

“I do. I did.” she furrowed her brows at herself and closed her eyes. Dammit, why was she so nervous? She was just talking to a friend, whom she had happened to have the pleasure to have seen naked. If she didn’t get a grip, people were bound to notice that something was going on between the two of them.

Teresa nodded, searching her face.

“How’s your friend?”

“She’s-” Betty began but faltered. The word “fine” refused to leave her lips, because honestly, Gladys was anything but fine. She was hurt and in pain and Betty had no idea of how to fix it, how to make her feel better. And what was worse, she had the growing suspicion that if anything ever happened to Teresa and she learned about it, she might be reduced to the same state Gladys was in now. It wasn’t what Betty had wanted, not what she’d been looking for, and truth be told, it terrified her. Not that Teresa might get hurt (that terrified her, too), but that within not even a week, she had fallen so hard for someone else that the thought of them actually leaving made the breath hitch in her throat, even after she had felt like never seeing the other woman again would be a good thing.

“I’ve never had to give these news to someone.” Teresa said. “Someone from my unit, they died, and it was hard for us all, but we never… You don’t see the aftermath for those that loved the soldiers that fall. Maybe that’s better, because you’re distracted with your own thoughts enough as it is, if people knew what it was like for the others left behind-”

“I don’t want to you leave.” Betty breathed, the words leaving her in a rush. She wanted to close her eyes, to turn around and run, but her eyes were locked with Teresa’s surprised dark ones and her body refused to listen to her. “I… don’t want to lose you.” she added, her voice barely above a whisper.

Teresa blinked in surprise, swallowing thickly before she cast a subtle glance around and took Betty’s arm, steering her to a corner where they might be a bit further away from prying eyes.

“I’m just going on a bond tour.” she reminded her, searching Betty’s face. The blonde woman sighed, shifting on her feet and managing to look down to stare at the ground, a blush coloring her cheeks. “And you said…”

“I know what I said.” Betty nodded, looking up and drawing a slow breath. “But that was before…”

Before James and the reality that she helped to build things that killed and that there were humans being torn to shreds with these bombs and that the Germans them, too, and that no one was safe, not even the people that were in love and waiting to come back so they could get married and return to their loved ones, not even the young ones full of life and plans and expectations of what the world would be like once this war was over.

Teresa gave a slow nod, drawing a deep breath.

“Now what?” she asked. Betty looked at her in surprise and noticed the soft smile playing on the other woman’s lips.

“Now you leave.” the blonde shrugged. “And I don’t want you to, but I know you have to. And I’ll be pathetic and sitting in my room waiting for you to get back, probably.”

She jumped lightly when she felt the other woman’s fingers brush against hers when Teresa reached out briefly.

“I’ll be gone for a couple of weeks.” the soldier told her, hesitating. “And I don’t think I should call, but we could try to write.”

Betty felt her mouth go dry at the memory of the letters Gladys had shown them, the letters from James that were barely readable because of how much the Army censors had cut out. Any letter she wrote Teresa would be read by other people. She wouldn’t be able to say what she really wanted, it would be just like the past years, playing hide and seek and trying to be subtle and hope no one caught on…

“If you don’t want to-”

Before she knew what she was doing, Betty shook her head rapidly. “No, I want to.” she said, drawing a slow breath. She did, she wanted to write. She wanted to send letters and hope that they reached Teresa, wanted to be able to put a smile on her face, and make this absence pass a bit faster…

Teresa nodded. “I have your address; I’ll try to get a post card out once we reach the first stop.”

“Okay.” Betty nodded, hesitating. “And when you get back…”

“Let’s talk about that when it happens.” Teresa decided, watching her face carefully. Betty furrowed her brows slightly, confused. “I know you think this is what you want now, but… One night ago, you didn’t ever want to see my face again.”

“But now I do!” Betty exclaimed, cringing at her volume.

“Yes, now you do. And what are you going to want tomorrow? Or a week from now? When I get back in two months, your friend will be starting to move on. She won’t be hurting as much, probably, and you might wonder how much of a scared idiot you were when you said that we could see each other again.” Teresa said, shaking her head. “I just don’t want us to make promises when one of us might not be interested in keeping them.” she added, her voice softer.

Betty glanced away briefly before she squared her shoulders and looked right into Teresa’s eyes again.

“I’ll be here. When you get back, I’ll still be here, and my mind won’t have changed.”

The other woman’s lips tugged upwards in the hint of a smile and she nodded once.

“I will remember that.” the brunette said, reaching out. Her fingers brushed Betty’s hand and their eyes locked before Teresa pulled her hand away and pushed past her, leaving Betty to stand in the dining hall, her heart hammering in her throat.

_fin._

 


End file.
